JONNY’S BEST WITH NO REST

Busy Bairstow happy to play on

ENGLiSH cricket’s iron man embarks on his first full tour of Sri Lanka today insisting he can cope with the busiest workload of any international player.

Jonny Bairstow was in action for england an incredible 91 times across all formats in the 12 months that concluded with the end of the english summer, just pipping team-mate Joe root by a day as the busiest man in world cricket.

that means Bairstow was in international action every four days in the year and then had just two weeks off before england arrived here in Colombo for the five-match one-day series.

Bairstow will take on the heat and humidity of the P Sara Oval, in the first of two 50-over warmup games against a Sri Lanka Xi today, believing he can sustain the levels of excellence with bat and gloves that have made him one of england’s most important players. ‘that statistic is a good thing because it means that people want you to be part of their team,’ said Bairstow, now established as england’s No 1 50- over opener. ‘it also means you’re in good condition physically and mentally because, if you weren’t, i’m not sure you’d get through all those games.

‘i wouldn’t have it any other way. it’s a short career when you’re playing for england and you have to relish every single bit of it. i’ve been away the last six or seven winters and i’m very proud of that. i hope to be part of the next seven winters, too, because i feel physically fit and mentally good.

‘yes, there will be a point when i feel a bit tired but not yet.’

these figures show the demands placed on multiformat cricketers — and it can only get tougher next year when england have a home World Cup, the ashes, then a winter touring New Zealand, South africa and back in Sri Lanka.

Bairstow is not complaining. ‘i always wanted to be a consistent presence in all three formats so to play for england every three and a half days for a year is not too bad,’ he said. ‘Physically you’ve got to get up for it every day because keeping wicket and batting does take it out of you.

‘People ask me, “is it a bad thing that you’re in the field rather than keeping in one-day cricket?” But it’s not because it keeps you fresh and it’s the same with Jos (Buttler) in the tests.’

england will use these two matches today and tomorrow to give their whole squad game time before the onedayers start in Dambulla next Wednesday. GraHam tHOrPe will take charge of the england Lions tour to the Uae next month, due to andy Flower’s prolonged absence.

thorpe, the eCB lead batting coach since 2010, is now with the england one-day squad in Sri Lanka, but will lead the Lions when they fly out next month for one four-day test, five one-dayers and two t20s with Pakistan a. Flower is filling in as eCB director of cricket after andrew Strauss resigned.